New Orleans-based Ochsner Health System partnered with Lambeth House, a retirement community in New Orleans, to launch the Innovative Care in Alzheimer's Research program.
The program is a 12-month intervention study of dementia management using telehealth. Each study participant will be given an iPad, which can be used to play music or speak with loved ones, and a Fitbit, to monitor sleep and movement. Once a month, participants will have a 30- to 60-minute telehealth visit with an Ochsner neuropsychologists via the iPad. The telehealth visits will supplement the patient's current care plan with Lambeth House.
The study will assess several variables, including mortality rate, quality of life, activity engagement, staff and family caregiving burden as well as healthcare utilization.
The study will include the 16 dementia patients in Mercer's Way, Lambeth's memory care unit
"By leveraging telehealth, this partnership enables Ochsner to bring high-quality neurological care to these residents in a familiar setting," said Robert John Sawyer, PhD, co-director of cognitive disorders and brain health program at Ochsner Health System.